great sketch Alex. I like the diffraction spikes, it gives the cluster a bit of life. Anyone brave enough to attempt 3532 should be given automatic ASOD honours!
While we're talking about 3532, here is my take on it done a few years ago with an 8" dob.
Beautiful work there, Sab! So many lovely arcs and lines. I like the way you've highlighted the brighter stars too. A pains taking sketch, very detailed and studied.
Thank you Michael! I'm sorry I didn't acknowledge your mentioning when you posted it way back when.
It's been a very miserable year so far obs. wise, just stating the bleed'n obvious. But didn't we get a ripper last night here in Ol' Sydney Town! Even with work the next day, I just had to pull out the scope.
Conditions started pretty ordinary, but by the time came to pack up, WOW, so steady and clear. In the current thread of Gem's on noting your favourite object I mentioned mine as being M7, with its now half dozen other objects that also lie within its boundary. The three that I had mentioned were so easy to see tonight. No eye strain, no scanning, no hide-and-seek. They were just there! I'll be needing to get finer charts to seek out the three planetary nebulae that Les has mentioned.
M7 was too late to consider as a sketching option as the time by then had come to pack up.
What I did do was two, one of the magnificent GC in Ara, NGC 6397, and one of M8. As by now you may know I am not a big fan of jotting down that "Circle of Confine" that marks the edge of the field of view. Even so, there is some merit in it, . So just to be difficult, I've scribed an arc, rather than a full circle, and made it really, really faint, as I want the DSO to be the main fair.
6397 is really something special. Like its more famous brother, M4, it too has an odd bar formation that crosses its middle, though the component stars in this "belt" are fainter. Its tendrils reach out very far, with what may be unassociated patches of clusters splashed out far from the main ball.
M8 in an OIII filter, even from home, is really something! I had only really noticed the main 'hour glass' shape of the nebula. Tonight I got my first look at just how extensive the nebulousity really is. It is bloody enourmous! The nebulosity is so textured too, with swirls, dark lanes, and density variations extending way beyond the field of view. I've got some more work to do to fine tune my touch. Some details came out a little too strong, others not quite the shape I was after. A start all the same for a future dark sky effort.
Both sketches where done using the same scope and eyepiece, M8, however, I also used an OIII filter. A bit rusty, but I'm pleased with the two and a half hours spent.
NGC 6397 & M8
Scope: 17.5" dob
Gear: 15mm Superview, 133X, & OIII filter with M8
Date: June 5, 2011
Location: Sydney
Media: White pastel, white & black charcoal and white ink on A4 size black paper
Fantastic sketches once again Alex The lagoon is indeed a lovely sight especially with a filter and makes a nice pair with the Trifid. I'd like to see your take on the Trifid with your sketching style.
Here is my sketch of M83 from my night out on the 25th June. (see separate report).
Rather than go the soft and light approach which I find a bit difficult to see what I am doing in the dark I tried a more heavy handed approach. The end result is a much brighter than what I could really see but is still representative.
This was my first visit to Wiruna, the dark sky site of the Astronomical Society of New South Wales (many thanks to Alex Comino for organizing my stay there ). This was the stomping ground of Scott Mellish, and it was such a great experience to meet some of his friends up there. He is so sorely missed.
Conditions started marvelously. Using my 17.5” dob, my first squiz of M16, had me gasping “There it is! There’s the Eagle!” So clear was the dark pillar system. So much so that I could also make out the distinct highlighted leading edge of the pillars! Even with an OIII filter! So cool!
This sketch of the Eagle took around two hours to complete.
It was also my first use of another treasure of an eyepiece, a Unitron 16mm Konig eyepiece. What a marvelous eyepiece! Not as long in eyerelief as newer eyepieces, but the image is one of the brightest I’ve seen, and easily has a 70* FOV.
Object: M16, The Eagle Nebula
Scope: 17.5” f/4.5 dob, push pull
Gear: Unitron 16mm Konig, 125X, + OIII filter
Date: 2’nd June, 2011
Location: Wiruna, Ilford, Australia
Materials: White pastel, black & white charcoal pencils and white ink on A4 size black paper
Thanks all for your comments. This sketch of the Eagle has quickly become one of my fav's too. Funny enough, I keep seeing new details in it whenever I come back to it.
The following sketch was done the same night as the Eagle sketch.
There are few deep sky objects that are rarely matched to their impact through the eyepiece. When you first see them through the eyepiece, you lift your head for just one moment & think “Holy heck, did I just see that!”, and then rush back to the eyepiece .
NGC 6752 has to be one of those objects. This southern sky globular cluster in the constellation Pavo, is one cracker of a GC. A naked eye object, it is easily overlooked as it lies in a tremendously busy part of the sky. My first look at it had me running around the place saying to folks “you gotta have a look at this through your scopes!”
Not only is it a bright GC, but it is jam-packed with lines, arcs, loops, and figures made up of stars. One particularly lovely alignment of stars seems to trace a large looping love heart shape. My sketch shows it on the left side of the main ball. Sketch was done in just over an hour.
This GC is one big sucker. The mistiness that reaches out from the core is very expansive. The number of resolved stars is wicked. This GC’s reach was huge, even though transparency of the sky wasn’t brilliant.
This is one target that I would really love to have a squiz at through a monster dob. I might even run the risk of trashing my night vision with it this way, .
I can only hope that this sketch evokes some of the immense beauty of this cluster. It is just WOW!
Alex.
Object: NGC 6752, globular cluster in Pavo
Scope: 17.5” f/4.5
Gear: Unitron 16mm Konig, 125X, 33.6’ AFOV
Date: 2nd July, 2011
Location: Wiruna, Ilford, Australia
Media: White pastel, white charcoal pencil & white ink on A4 size black paper.
Last edited by mental4astro; 12-07-2011 at 12:52 PM.
This is truly a fantastic GC and beautifully sketched Alex. When I observe this one I'm always struck by the arcs of stars spreading out from the core and you've captured them perfectly. Brilliant sketch.
Two sketches in one night, :)
. So just to be difficult, I've scribed an arc, rather than a full circle, and made it really, really faint, as I want the DSO to be the main fair.
The lagoon is indeed a lovely sight especially with a filter and makes a nice pair with the Trifid. I'd like to see your take on the Trifid with your sketching style.
). This was the stomping ground of Scott Mellish, and it was such a great experience to meet some of his friends up there. He is so sorely missed.
.
